Light fixtures suitable for commercial use, such as in or around buildings and commercial facilities, are typically designed to be durable since they can be struck or damaged during business operations. To provide this durability, existing light fixtures typically have substantial housings that protect the light source. Most existing commercial light fixtures utilize fluorescent bulbs, halogen bulbs, mercury vapor lamps, or metal halide lamps as the light source. However, these existing commercial fixtures suffer from a variety of limitations, including but not limited to high cost, low efficiency, high power consumption and/or poor light output quality. Other commercial fixtures may utilize LEDs, however, the heat generated by the LEDs during operation compromises the performance, lifetime and efficiency of these fixtures. Thus, the overall appeal of existing commercial fixtures is limited, and will further erode as energy costs (and the related operating costs) continue to increase.
The present invention is provided to solve limitations found in the conventional light fixtures and systems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by conventional designs. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.